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Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are major chemical pollutants in indoor air. Indoor fabrics, such as curtains, carpets, sofas, and clothes, strongly adsorb VOCs due to their high loading rates and large specific surface areas. The desorption of VOCs from these fabrics can act as a secondary source, worsening indoor air pollution and prolonging its effects. The diffusion coefficient is a key parameter that determines the source-sink properties of fabrics. In this study, the VOC diffusion characteristics in fabrics were investigated through microstructural examination, mass transfer analysis, and environmental chamber experiments. Yarn and fiber gaps were identified as dual mass transfer channels within the fabrics and were represented using two distinct fractal models. A dual-porosity medium (DPM) model, based on these fractal representations, was developed to predict the VOC diffusion coefficients in indoor fabrics and was validated via experiments under various environmental conditions and fabric-VOC combinations. The results highlight the significant impact of fabric structure and composition on VOC adsorption and emission dynamics. The validated DPM model provides a comprehensive approach to predicting VOC diffusion in fabrics, providing a more accurate method for assessing indoor air quality and fabric-mediated human exposure., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Highly oxygenated organic molecules (HOMs) are a major source of new particles that affect the Earth's climate. HOM production from the oxidation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) occurs during both the day and night and can lead to new particle formation (NPF). However, NPF involving organic vapors has been reported much more often during the daytime than during nighttime. Here, we show that the nitrate radicals (NO 3 ), which arise predominantly at night, inhibit NPF during the oxidation of monoterpenes based on three lines of observational evidence: NPF experiments in the CLOUD (Cosmics Leaving OUtdoor Droplets) chamber at CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research), radical chemistry experiments using an oxidation flow reactor, and field observations in a wetland that occasionally exhibits nocturnal NPF. Nitrooxy-peroxy radicals formed from NO 3 chemistry suppress the production of ultralow-volatility organic compounds (ULVOCs) responsible for biogenic NPF, which are covalently bound peroxy radical (RO 2 ) dimer association products. The ULVOC yield of α-pinene in the presence of NO 3 is one-fifth of that resulting from ozone chemistry alone. Even trace amounts of NO 3 radicals, at sub-parts per trillion level, suppress the NPF rate by a factor of 4. Ambient observations further confirm that when NO 3 chemistry is involved, monoterpene NPF is completely turned off. Our results explain the frequent absence of nocturnal biogenic NPF in monoterpene (α-pinene)-rich environments.

The global importance of abiotic oceanic production of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) still presents a source of high uncertainties related to secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation. A better understanding of the photochemistry occurring at the ocean-atmosphere interface is particularly important in that regard, as it covers >70% of the Earth's surface. In this work, we focused on the photochemical VOCs production at the air-water interface containing organic material from authentic culture of marine diatom Chaetoceros pseudocurvisetus. Abiotic VOCs production upon irradiation of material originating from total phytoplankton culture as well as the fraction containing only dissolved material was monitored by means of PTR-ToF-MS. Furthermore, isolated dissolved lipid fraction was investigated after its deposition at the air-water interface. All samples acted as a source of VOCs, producing saturated oxygenated compounds such as aldehydes and ketones, as well as unsaturated and functionalized compounds. Additionally, a significant increase in surfactant activity following irradiation experiments observed for all samples implied biogenic material photo-transformation at the air-water interface. The highest VOCs flux normalized per gram of carbon originated from lipid material, and the produced VOCs were introduced into an atmospheric simulation chamber, where particle formation was observed after its gas-phase ozonolysis. This work clearly demonstrates abiotic production of VOCs from phytoplankton derived organic material upon irradiation, facilitated by its presence at the air/water interface, with significant potential for affecting the global climate as a precursor of particle formation., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Fabrics are widely distributed in residential buildings. Due to their highly porous structures and large specific surface areas, they have strong adsorption properties for volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The secondary source effect that is induced by their desorption can aggravate indoor air pollution and prolong the pollution period. The partition coefficient, which is a characteristic parameter of VOC mass transfer, is sensitive to variations in environmental parameters. However, due to the inherent differences between fabrics and other indoor porous building materials, the relevant research conclusions on the VOC mass transfer parameters of building materials cannot be applied. In addition, the effects of temperature and humidity on the partitioning behavior of VOCs on fabrics have rarely been quantitatively analyzed. Based on an analysis of the porous structure and corresponding mass transfer process of fabrics, a novel prediction model of the fabric partition coefficient under the coupling effect of temperature and humidity is proposed. Three types of indoor typical fabrics and primary water-soluble VOC (formaldehyde) and water-insoluble VOC (benzene, toluene) are examined experimentally via hygroscopicity tests and environmental chamber tests. The experimental results demonstrate the reliability of the proposed model for a variety of conditions., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Phthalate and alternative plasticizers are semivolatile organic compounds (SVOCs) and among the most abundant indoor pollutants. Although ingestion of dust is one of the major exposure pathways to them, migration knowledge from source products to indoor dust is still limited. Systematic chamber measurements were conducted to investigate the direct transfer of these SVOCs between source products and dust in contact with the source. Substantial direct source-to-dust transfer of SVOCs was observed for all tests. The concentration of bis(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate in dust was 12 times higher than the pre-experimental level after only two days of source-dust contact. A mechanistic model was developed to predict the direct transfer process, and a reasonable agreement between model predictions and measurements was achieved. The octanol/air partition coefficient ( K oa ) of SVOCs, the emission parameter of the source product ( y 0 ), and the characteristics of the dust layer (i.e., porosity and thickness) control the transfer, affecting the SVOC concentration in dust, the kinetics of direct transfer, or both. Dust mass loading has a significant influence on the transfer, while relative humidity only has a limited effect. The findings suggest that minimizing the use of SVOC-containing products and house vacuuming are effective intervention strategies to reduce young children's exposure to SVOCs.

The initial mobile formaldehyde concentration, C(m,0); the partition coefficient, K; and the diffusion coefficient, D, of a dry building material are key parameters to characterize formaldehyde emissions from the building material. The solvent extraction method and direct thermal desorption method can overestimate C(m,0) because of high temperature. A new method has been developed to determine C(m,0) under similar conditions to common indoor environment, together with K and D. In the proposed method, the tested materials are placed in an airtight environmental chamber for which the temperature can be controlled by a water bath, then the materials undergo a multisorption/emission process and the instantaneous formaldehyde concentration in the chamber is recorded. The K and C(m,0) are determined from the equilibrium concentrations after every sorption by means of the linear least-square regression, and D is obtained by fitting the concentration at the emission stage into a mass-transfer-based model in the literature. Four kinds of wooden medium-density boards are tested. The C(m,0) measured using this method is the mobile formaldehyde concentration in the material, which differs significantly from the total formaldehyde concentration in the material measured by using the traditional method recommended by the Chinese standard (GB/T 17657-1999) extraction method. This means that the mobile formaldehyde takes only a small portion of the total quantity in the tested material. The K, D, and C(m,0) values measured using this new method are used to predict formaldehyde concentrations for sorption processes. The results agree well with experimental data. In addition, some factors influencing the accuracy are analyzed.

Nitroaromatic compounds (NACs) are important light absorption contributors to atmospheric brown carbon; however, their formation pathways and the key influential factors in polluted urban atmospheres are largely unknown. Herein, we present the molecular characterization of atmospheric particulate NACs in urban Shanghai by applying ultra‐high‐performance liquid chromatography coupled to Orbitrap mass spectrometry, and investigated their seasonal and diel variations and formation pathways. The total number and abundance of NACs increased significantly during air pollution episodes, and these NACs exhibited the greatest relative abundance among CHON compounds. The 12 quantified NACs exhibited higher levels in winter (52.3 ± 29.1 ng m−3) than summer (7.83 ± 3.30 ng m−3), largely owing to air masses mostly passing through northern heating regions. Among NACs, 4‐nitrophenol and 4‐nitrocatechol were the most abundant species. Most of NACs were enhanced via photooxidation during the day in summer, while the day‐night variations in winter were not as obvious. Further analysis of atmospheric formation relevance suggested that nitrophenol and its methylated derivatives were mainly formed through gas‐phase photochemical reactions, whereas aqueous‐phase oxidation processing could be an important pathway to form methyl‐nitrocatechols. Formation of NACs was relatively sensitive to NO2 under low‐NOx conditions, and became independent of NO2 under high‐NOx conditions. A larger fraction of NO2 was transformed into NACs than into inorganic nitrate products when nitrate was less abundant, implying that NACs would play more important roles in aerosol properties with the decline in nitrate concentrations. Key Points: The total number and abundance of detected Nitroaromatic compounds (NACs) increased significantly during air pollution episodesThe quantified NACs exhibited higher levels in winter than summer, largely owing to air masses passing through northern heating regionsControlling NOx and aromatic volatile organic compounds emissions could significantly reduce the NAC formation [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A general mass transfer based model was developed for analyzing volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions from dry multi-layer building materials with two emission surfaces. This model adds to an earlier multi-layer model by considering chemical reactions within the materials. Consequently, it can be used to analyze the effect of these chemical reactions on removing VOCs, and for characterizing secondary VOC emissions from the building material. The model was validated with literature data and our experimental results. Some typical secondary emissions were analyzed using this model, and obviously differed from the primary emissions. The model is a useful tool for predicting, analyzing and "designing" the VOC emission characteristics, including secondary emissions, of building materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions of building materials are represented by three parameters: the initial emittable concentration (C 0), diffusion coefficient (D), and partition coefficient (K). Accurate measurement of these three parameters is key to the reasonable prediction and control of VOC emissions from building materials. In this study, a single airtight emission (SAE) method for determining the three emission parameters of building materials is proposed. Based on the dynamic analysis of the normalized relative sensitivity coefficient of the characteristic parameters in an airtight environment, the three parameters could be determined by piece-wise fitting of the experimental data. This method requires only a single airtight emission experiment for building materials, and the experimental time is short (≤36 h). C 0 , D , and K can be simply calculated by nonlinearly fitting of the experimental data. It demonstrated some significant improvements towards better simplicity and accuracy compared to previous methods. The emission parameters of formaldehyde in the four types of building materials were determined following the SAE method, and the predicted values agreed well with the experimental values under various environmental conditions. Additionally, the possible sources of errors using this method were analyzed, and the influence of the initial hypothesis on the results was also discussed to further verify the feasibility and accuracy of the method. The SAE method proposed in this study can efficiently and accurately measure the formaldehyde emission parameters of building materials, and is suitable for application in engineering, requiring a short time and simple operation. [Display omitted] • A SAE method for measuring the emission parameters of building materials is proposed. • The experimental data is piece-wise fitted based on the sensitivity analysis. • The influence of initial hypothesis on the prediction results is analyzed. • SAE method has high precision and is suitable for application in engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions from coating materials, such as paint, can result in poor indoor air quality (IAQ). In this study, a fundamental mathematical model for VOC emissions from paint film was established based on the mass transfer mechanism. In this model, mass transfers in the air, at the air–paint interface, in the paint film, at the paint–substrate interface, and in the porous substrate are mathematically described. Three statuses of the paint film including wet, semi-dry, and dry were defined quantitatively by the saturation of VOC liquid in the pores of the paint film. Therefore, the entire process from the wet to dry stages of VOC emission from the material can be characterized by the new model. In addition, the model was validated using experimental data in the literatures. A case study revealed that the effects of indoor environmental parameters on VOC emission of paint film change with the stages of the paint film. The film thickness and the porosity of the substrate have more significant effects on the emission of the paint film in the semi-dry and dry stages, respectively. This analysis can provide environmental control strategies and material selection schemes for promoting good IAQ. • A mathematical model is proposed to characterize the VOC emissions from paint film. • Three statuses of the paint film from wet to dry are defined quantitatively. • VOC emission characteristics of different drying stages can be depicted accurately. • The influence factors of VOC emissions from paint film are analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through the observation of the pore structure and mercury intruding porosimetry (MIP) experiments of some typical porous building materials, we found that the diffusion coefficient of the material can be expressed by that of a representative elementary volume (REV) in which the pore structure can be simplified as a connection in series of macro and meso pores. Based upon that, a macro–meso two-scale model for predicting the diffusion coefficient of porous building materials is proposed. In contrast to the traditional porous mass transfer model for determining the diffusion coefficient described in the literature [Blondeau, P., Tiffonnet, A.L., Damian, A., Amiri, O., Molina, J.L., 2003. Assessment of contaminant diffusivities in building materials from porosimetry tests. Indoor Air 13, 302–310; Seo, J., Kato, S., Ataka, Y., Zhu, Q., 2005. Evaluation of effective diffusion coefficient in various building materials and absorbents by mercury intrusion porosimetry. In Proceedings of the Indoor Air, Beijing, China, pp. 1854–1859], the proposed model relates the volatile organic compound (VOC) diffusion coefficient of building material not only to the porosity of the building material, but also to the pore size distribution and pore connection modes. To verify the model, a series of experiments of VOC emissions of three types of medium-density board were conducted. The comparison of the model and experimental results shows that the proposed model agrees much better with the experimental results than the traditional models in the literature. More validation for other building materials is needed. The proposed model is useful for predicting the VOC diffusion coefficient of porous building materials and for developing low VOC emission building materials. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The diffusion coefficient, D, partition coefficient, K, and the initial volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in dry building materials, are the three key parameters used to predict the VOC emissions. D and K may be strongly affected by temperature. We have developed a new and simple method, the C-history method, to measure the diffusion coefficient, D and the partition coefficient, K of formaldehyde in dry building materials at temperatures of 18, 30, 40 and 50°C. The measured variations of the diffusion coefficients and the partition coefficients with temperature for particle board, vinyl floor, medium-and high-density board are presented. A formula relating the partition coefficient and related factors is obtained through analysis. This formula can predict the partition coefficient in principle and provide an insight for fitting experimental data, and it agrees well with the experimental results. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Porous fabrics have a significant impact on indoor air quality by adsorbing and emitting chemical substances, such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs). Understanding the partition behavior between organic compound molecules and indoor fabrics is crucial for assessing their environmental fate and associated human exposure. The physicochemical properties of fabrics and compounds are fundamental in determining the free energy of partitioning. Moreover, environmental factors like temperature and humidity critically affect the partition process by modifying the thermal and moisture conditions of the fabric. However, existing methods for determining the fabric-air partition coefficient are limited to specific fabric-chemical combinations and lack a comprehensive consideration of indoor environmental factors. In this study, large amounts of experimental data on fabric-air partition coefficients (K fa) of (S)VOCs were collected for silk, polyester, and cotton fabrics. Key molecular descriptors were identified, integrating the influences of physicochemical properties, temperature, and humidity. Subsequently, two typical quantitative structure-property relationship (QSPR) models were developed to correlate the K fa values with the molecular descriptors. The fitting performance, robustness, and predictive ability of the two QSPR models were evaluated through statistical analysis and internal/external validation. This research provides insights for the high-throughput prediction of the environmental behaviors of indoor organic compounds. Among various indoor surfaces, porous fabrics serve as the primary medium for the migration, distribution, and fate of chemicals, owing to their high loading rate and large specific surface area. Understanding the partition behavior of organic compounds between fabric and air is essential. However, existing methods are often restricted to specific fabric-chemical combinations and lack a comprehensive consideration of indoor environmental factors. This study introduces a QSPR modeling approach with broad applicability, effectively predicting the fabric-air partition coefficients of (S)VOCs, and incorporating the effects of ambient temperature and humidity. It enables high-throughput assessment of indoor chemical pollution and human exposure. [Display omitted] • QSPR modeling was used to predict fabric-air partition coefficients for (S)VOCs. • Key molecular and environmental descriptors were identified and integrated. • Two advanced and well validated models were proposed for different scenarios. • Study facilitates high-throughput assessment of chemical fate and human exposure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Based on the most recently published mass transfer model of volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions from dry building materials, it is found that the dimensionless emission rate and total emission quantity are functions of just four dimensionless parameters, the ratio of mass transfer Biot number to partition coefficient (Bi m/K), the mass transfer Fourier number (Fo m), the dimensionless air exchange rate (Nδ 2 /D m) and the ratio of building material volume to chamber or room volume (Aδ/V). Through numerical analysis and data fitting, a group of dimensionless correlations for estimating the emission rate from dry building materials is obtained. The predictions of the correlations are validated against the predictions made by the mass transfer model. Using the correlations, the VOC emission rate from dry building materials can be conveniently calculated without having to solve the complicated mass transfer equations. Thus it is very simple to estimate VOC emissions for a given condition. The predictions of the correlations agree well with experimental data in the literature except in the initial few hours. Furthermore, based on the correlations, a relationship between the emission rates of a material in two different situations is deduced. With this relationship, the results for a given building material in a test chamber can be scaled to those under real conditions, if the dimensionless parameters are within the appropriate region for the correlations. The relationship also explicitly explains the impacts of air velocity, load ratio, and air exchange rate on the VOC emission rate, which determines the feasibility of assuming that the VOC emission rates in real conditions are the same as those in the test chambers. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]